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Follow the leader.
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Having a coach who has experienced just about everything there is to experience in the National Hockey League has been key for the Maple Leafs in their desire to go on a long playoff run.
Craig Berube, winner of the Stanley Cup in St. Louis six years ago and with more than 1,000 NHL games played on his resume, spoke at the end of the regular season about how crucial it was that the Leafs’ leadership group bought in to what he sought from his players.
The Leafs’ leaders will tell you the transition to playing for Berube wasn’t difficult. Winning the Atlantic Division before taking a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series against the Ottawa Senators provided some proof.
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“Can’t say enough good things about him,” captain Auston Matthews said on Tuesday morning, hours before the Leafs and Sens clashed in Game 5 at Scotiabank Arena.
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“He brings a level of expertise and things that he’s been through and knowledge. His messaging is always pretty standard. We have to go out there and compete, work hard, win our battles.
“He does a good job of keeping us pretty even-keeled throughout periods and does a good job of getting us going when we need to get going.”
It’s not necessarily a comment on anything that happened from behind the bench in recent years. Sheldon Keefe coached the Leafs to 100-point seasons as well, but when the team failed again last year to advance past the first round, general manager Brad Treliving didn’t need much convincing to make a change. Especially with Berube, who was fired by the Blues in December 2023, available.
Keefe did some good things in Toronto, but didn’t have the post-season pedigree of the man who would replaced him.
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“He has been phenomenal, I think, all year,” John Tavares said of Berube. “You see how things transition into playoffs and the consistency of his messaging and the things he’s emphasizing, and how at the most important time of year, everything gets heightened.
“Overall, the identity and the messaging has been consistent with him, been strong. I think we feel and I think probably a lot of people recognize the calmness and composure, but the intensity that he brings.”
It didn’t take long for veteran forward Max Pacioretty, whose participation in 2024-25 has been spotty because of injuries, to witness the impact of Berube.
“Right from the beginning, guys were talking about that pack mentality, where everyone’s going to stand up for each other, be on the same page,” Pacioretty said. “I think the term he used was ‘give more, take less’ and everyone feels like they’re an important part of the team.
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“We ran with that since Game 1 and have had a lot of success with that mentality.”
PATCHED UP
With no Leafs lineup changes in the works for Game 5, Pacioretty was looking to make a greater impact after playing in the previous two games.
The 36-year-old forward, who didn’t play in the regular season after Feb. 8 as he recovered from an undisclosed injury, gave an assessment of his own play in returning.
“I knew the first (game) would be easier than the second in terms of adrenaline,” Pacioretty said. “You don’t feel as great with not much time to recover (between games). At the same time, my minutes went up and we played two overtime games after almost three months off.
“So I can’t be too hard on myself. I look for little intangibles where I can help the team. Now I have to try to create a little bit more.”
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Pacioretty brings savvy and a physical nature that Nick Robertson does not. At the same time, Robertson is a quicker player.
In what other ways has Pacioretty adjusted to being back in playing mode?
“The mental side of things are constantly talking to yourself, and I don’t want to say you try to keep yourself engaged,” Pacioretty said. “It’s more trying to keep yourself aware of the little details of the game that you haven’t been exposed to for the last little while.”
A BREED APART
Pacioretty and Berube shared experiences of watching teammates play through injuries to try to make a difference in the playoffs.
Pacioretty recalled teammate Alec Martinez and the defenceman’s pain tolerance playing for the Vegas Golden Knights.
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“He was basically in a wheelchair when he wasn’t on the ice and was getting a lot of help to play,” Pacioretty said. “That one sticks out the most me.”
Martinez acknowledged after the 2021 playoffs that he had played while nursing a broken foot.
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Berube recalled the 1987 playoffs when he was with the Philadelphia Flyers. The Edmonton Oilers beat the Flyers in seven games in the final that year. Berube was 21 at the time and starting his NHL career.
“I was a spectator for most of it,” Berube said. “There were a lot of guys that were banged up in our team, different players like Tim Kerr and Dave Poulin, they were really beat up. A lot of, probably, broken bones and ribs and different things, but they found a way to play through it.
“It was a great learning experience for me to see some of that at a young age, what it takes. It takes a lot. You find a way to get through it and you play.”
Hockey players in general come by the tougher-than-others reputation naturally.
“We’ve all seen the memes comparing to other sports,” Pacioretty said. “When you’re in the locker room with no matter who it is in this sport, guys are willing to do whatever it takes to help the team. We feel like we have that in this room.”
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